InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

Hoping to get up to Thurrock for my annual attempt to create the ring around London's M25 ring road.   Pepé already has the poppy under the headlight and the year bands on the clocks. I'll have to dig out the big red t-shirt to squeeze over my riding gear. The usual two wristbands have been ordered, one for me and one for Pepés speedo.  Update 11th November 2019 After all the planning I woke up on Friday 8th with a terrible gut ache.  I had to work from home as the loo was the most common seating place.  It was no better Saturday and the codeine phosphate quelled the urges. Sunday was no better and I watched the Remembrance at the Cenotaph in London on the TV.  SO I missed the run. I was slightly better on Monday and worked from home again.  I observed the 2 minute silence in the house as a break vfrom work.  Once again, codeine phosphate came to the rescue.

Today was supposed to be the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride .  For the second year running I have signed up and not made it on the run. On both occasions I had picked up a bug.  I had signed up to do the run from Laguna in Maidstone. As well as the cold/flu we were woken up early by the Environment Agency calling with a severe flood warning for our area. I live about 250 yards from the sea. All that is between us and the sea wall is the Hythe Ranges and a holiday caravan park. Hopefully the wall is enough. Last year it was a stomach upset, this year for over a week I have had cold/flu and a sore through. My throat swollen and I have difficulty swallowing.   In 2018 I salted my account with a personal donation and this year I decided not to. So sadly the charity haven't made any money off of me this year.  I'll no doubt to Movember again in November. Looking at the early posts I am sure that full dress Harley's aren't the kind of bikes listed by the organisers as...

Apparently being honest isn't good enough for Amazon     Thank you for submitting a customer review. Thank you for submitting a customer review on Amazon. After carefully reviewing your submission, your review could not be posted to the website. While we appreciate your time and comments, reviews must adhere to the following guidelines: http://www.amazon.co.uk/review-guidelines   from Paul on 26 September 2019 Oops The lock is pretty easy to use allied with the twirly cable (not supplied( reminds the idiot of an owner not to try and ride off with removing it. Sadly, Oxford don't include the twirly cable to connect lock to handlebar/brake lever. So when a clown (I take a bow) rolls forward and the lock crunches against the fork leg the inevitable tumble takes p...

Tight bugger that I am. Why pay £1000 for a bloody phone.  All I do is read/send email, social media and internet.  I take some pictures.  The Honor by Huawei does all I need it to! Oh yes, I sometimes read Kindle books. The full Amazon Review -  https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RWHLMJGTCHORK/

Typical.  With Bruv away on his Spanish MotoGP trip and Helen having a hospital appointment today, we decided not to go last night. It was the Carabao Cup (aka the League Cup) third round and Arsenal at home to Nottingham Forest.   Forest are currently languishing in the lower reaches of the Championship (second tier). A lowly existence from one of England's great clubs of the late 70's and early 80's, winning two European Cups under legendary manager Brian Clough. What a mistake to let someone else sit in our seats. Arsenal making eleven changes from the Sunday side that beat Aston Villa 3-2.  A chance for some debutants and some returning from injury. Arsenal, 4th in the Premership, winning 5-0. Yes.5-0.   Damn and blast.

A heartwarming tale of derring do that ends in abject failure. Plucky little Tottenham Hotspur, the small club from Middlesex unused to winning trophies,  against the leviathans of Europe. What a superb book

Phew. Another heart attack inducing game.  After last week's 2-2 draw at bottom of the league Watford we had hoped that at home to third from bottom Aston Villa might have been different. In midweek in matchday one of the Europa League Arsenal had beaten Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0. Not convincingly as it sounds but certainly worth the win. Today Villa started the better. A poor referee didn't help and they scored first. Poor defending and McGinn scored. No one picked him up and he deflected a low cross into the net past Leno.  That Villa began time-wasting almost immediately is pathetic. With over an hour to play!  It got worse for the Gunners when Maitland-Niles got a second yellow card.  Commentators agreed it was harsh. I thought the first one was harsh as the player that was felled cut across him and it looked like a trip. Calum Chambers replaced 18yo debutant Saka for the second half. And then despite a man down we looked better. More determination.  It was 1-...

It's time for the Royal British Legion Riders Non-Attendance Rally.  The 2019 rally bookings are open.  All proceeds to The Poppy Appeal.  It was only when the certificate arrived I realised I had already done it in January!!! DOH! Non-Attendance Rally

My letter to my MP on behalf on the Alzheimer's Society. Dear Mr Collins, I am writing to you as your constituent to ask you to visit Alzheimer's Society's exhibition stand (Stand 14) at Conservative party conference on 29 September - 2 October. There are 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK today, a number that is predicted to rise to 1 million by 2021. With dementia now the biggest killer in the UK, it is one of the greatest challenges facing our health and social care system. It is more important than ever that we unite to Fix Dementia Care and end the inequity faced by people affected by the condition. As one of your constituents I would greatly appreciate your attendance on the stand. Alzheimer's Society will have an exhibition stand highlighting the devastating effects people with dementia experience regarding cost, quality and access to care. The stand will give you the opportunity to see how the dementia crisis is affecting peopl...

Since I became a fair weather biker (and more of a motorcycle owning but mostly non-rider biker) I have yet to get to the 10000 miles service limit. So once again, Pepé is booked into Laguna Triumph to have the Annual Service done.  It's October 19th and so by then I might have added a few more miles to the odometer but it will still be less than 10000! Since I bought the bike just over four years ago I have only managed an average of 2000 miles a year.   It is all made worse in that my brother ( https://ndtea.blogspot.com/ ) is off again on another trip on his BMW.  This one trip will be more than my entire year's mileage. Of course, there are different reasons for this but there you go.  It is what it is.

Retirement seems to have been a success for my brother and he is off again -  https://ndtea.blogspot.com/ I signed up to recieve email updates to keep track of where he is going now and on this blog.

MAG challenges conclusions of the recent report by The Real Urban Emissions (TRUE) Initiative. The Real Urban Emissions (TRUE) Initiative issued a report on real world emissions from vehicles in Paris LAST week.  The Motorcycle Action Group expressed concern regarding the accuracy of the report conclusions. The headline conclusions outlined in the report with respect to motorcycles were: •       L-category vehicle fuel-specific emissions (grams per kilogram of fuel consumed) are up to 11.1 times higher for CO emissions and 6.1 times higher for NOX emissions compared to average petrol passenger car emissions. •       While fuel-specific emissions of CO and NOX from L-category vehicles have declined with the implementation of more stringent Euro standards, they have trailed behind passenger cars, and L-category standards only go up to Euro 4. •       Considering L-category vehicles only certified to curren...

MAG reveals Leicestershire Police National Motorcycle Theft Ranking by UK police force area, following delayed FOI response. The Motorcycle Action Group released a national police force ranking system for motorcycle theft in August.  Two forces failed to respond to FOI requests within the time restraints.  Leicestershire Police have now responded and the details have been analysed. The ranking system aims to demonstrate, in a fair and balanced manner, the level of motorcycle theft around the entire UK.  To give a fair representation, things like geographic size and population differences between police force areas have been allowed for by calculating a figure for the number of thefts per thousand registered motorcycles in each force area. Having now received the delayed FOI response from Leicestershire Police, MAG can now reveal that the force ranks 30 out of 37.  With 21,919 registered motorcycles in Leicestershire and 464 recorded thefts, Leicestersh...

Back to 16th January 2015.  We had had Reggie a little over two months.  Here he is in his new doggie bed. Sadly this one is no longer with us as he ripped it to pieces one day when he was in kennels on his holiday! IMGBB Reggie Album

Football authorities like to say that a player is guilty of simulation if they fall over in a game to get a free kick or penalty. Football fans call it diving.  Actually. It should simply be called cheating.  The whole diving scene is promoted by pundits on all the TV networks that perpetuate the myth that "winning a free kick" is acceptable.  We all know who the worst culprits are. They get the bird at most games but still nothing is actually done.  It's time that those same authorities clamped down and started banning serial offenders and then if their club can't stop it, start fining and deducting points.   Diving isn't simulation it's cheating . 

A test of imgbb photo hosting site and the various ways of linking/sharing photos on a variety of social media. £1.25 from Aldi

With Flickr becoming more and more of a PITA since it was taken over I have been looking for somewhere to store photos to be shared on social media including blogger and most importantly - free. So I am trialing IMGBB. The photo, below, is linked using html code from IMGBB.  I had to resize it to XL as it was massive. It's the only one I had loafing about on my work computer. Pre-windscreen as well! Mr Baloo 

On the ride out to the transport museum I tried out the Yamaha My Ride app for the first time. My brother had it on one of his trips and so I thought it might be a bit of fun. I kicked it off before leaving the museum, sadly it cut off after just three kilometres. Have no idea why as I didn't move it in my pocket.  In that short distance I managed two roundabouts and it measured me with left and right lean angles of 14°. Only  14 degrees. And there I was hoping for better.... Not quite in the Mark Márquez zone.  Next time I am out I'll give it another try...  Bit crap. 

Today I had a short run out to the transport museum. They we going to announce the winner of this year's raffle. Luckily it was sunny day and I could wear the Joe Rocket mesh. If only I had worn it to France a few weeks ago!  I needed fuel and so went along the coast and filled up at Tesco. The miles to empty was 23 miles. I managed to squeeze in only 17.8 litres. At 40mpg I ought to have had more like 70 miles left.  The ride was then up through the speed neutered Alkham Valley. An okay ride. At the museum I parked on the pavement outside and behind fellow Meldrew Cal's BMW 800. I parked there for the photo opportunity.... see below. We were joined by Frank and Lisa, also Meldrews, both on their own bikes.  Having had a partner for 15 years that rode her own bike, I do like to see women enjoying the freedom of riding.  We were there drinking tea and chatting and then set off on our various ways home. I went back through Alkham Valley and a little spurt up the M20 an...

As I am going to use the timeshare week that needs to be used by December 2020, I have been searching on the website for ages.   Our home laptop seems to run a WIN10 upgrade every time we turn it on and so it is a long process! The east coast is usually awash with places but as it is Easter there are fewer to choose from. Even La Manga looks like there are no vacancies. I managed to get online at lunchtime at work and check a few places out.  In the end booked the week at Ona Ogisaka Garden in Dénia. It has some decent reviews both on the RCI edited version or Tripadvisor and on the main site too. The week banked was worth 24 points and this cost 17 of them. So I have a rollover of 7 still to use!! Easier said than done in summer, but there often places in Autumn to use that on.  It's about 60 miles to the site from the Ibis Budget, where we stay the night before.  We have almost all day to get there though. Check out from the Ibis will be about noon.  Ben...

Some member I am.  I went along to the first meeting at the Drum in Stanford and haven't been since.   The problem is that the meeting starts too early for me to get home from work in London and by the time I get into the house it's too late! Tonight is the branch AGM and although I feel a bit of a fraud not attending anything since Day 1, I am a founding member!  ;) Hopefully I can get up there and meet everyone. Might even get Pepé out of the garage for the ride up there. Update .  Went and there were quite a few bikes and even two other Rockets. As I have never met any of them before. Blokes I talked to not members and didn't have any idea who and where they were.  Had a half of Old Dairy Uber and after wandering around as Billy no mates went home.  When the minutes came out it seems I wasn't the only on not to make it. 

After being made redundant for the second time in 7 years I decided to re-train as an English teacher. Despite being obviously quite thick at school or rather crap at remembering stuff for exams, I managed to talk myself onto an accredited course at a large training centre in London.  As I wasn't already a teacher of some kind, and also didn't have at least an undergraduate degree, I had to prove that I could do the course in an interview. The CTEFLA course is very hard and intensive. I passed and armed with my qualification I began looking for jobs. Only a month but learning and teaching everyday was very hard.  I began to search the EFL ads in the Times Education Supplement and the Guardian newspapers.   I then ran into rampant ageism. At 37 I was "too old" to compete with younger, often graduates, who with no experience of life away from mummy and daddy would be better suited. And possibly cheaper.  I applied for loads of jobs across the UK and in EU Europe. ...